largefeature

A national business lobby group says a majority of Alberta towns and cities are spending tax dollars at an alarming and unsustainable rate, far exceeding population growth. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business released its annual Alberta Municipal Spending Watch report Thursday, examining operating expenditures of 181 municipalities between 2000 and 2012.

CALGARY - The resource-rich provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta are forecast to lead salary gains across Canada next year. The Conference Board of Canada’s Compensation Planning Outlook 2015, released on Thursday, said Saskatchewan and Alberta employers will lead the nation with projected average increases of 3.6 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively.

The Wildrose Party promised Monday to rescind the last pay raise received by MLAs if it wins the 2016 provincial election ­— and vowed its four byelection candidates won’t take the money if they are elected on Oct. 27. Speaking in front of McDougall Centre, Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said the party would reverse a 2012 move by a Tory-dominated legislature committee that saw MLAs receive an additional $11,000 to direct to their RRSPs.

The Wildrose Party promised Monday to rescind the last pay raise received by MLAs if it wins the 2016 provincial election and said its four byelection candidates won’t take the pay if they are elected on Oct. 27.

Alberta’s highly-touted salary and severance disclosure list appears to have stalled coming out of the gate. Eight months after the so-called sunshine list was unveiled, there’s been no progress on announced plans to expand it to include Alberta Health Services, post-secondary schools and 200 other agencies, boards and commissions.

The Tory government says it has reintroduced a wage freeze on senior officials, though it has not rolled back a raise they received earlier this year. On Friday, the Wildrose Party called on Premier Jim Prentice Friday to bring back a wage freeze on top civil servants as he promised during the Tory leadership campaign.

Premier Jim Prentice said he’s ready to enable Calgary to create its own employee sunshine list, if city council wants the transparency measure. A day after councillors were advised the city lacks the authority to name and state salaries of high-earning civil servants, the premier said Wednesday he’d be “fully supportive” of doing so but hasn’t been approached by Calgary about it.

A sunshine list with no names? No salary details? No police or Enmax? No, never mind. Councillors voted Tuesday to reject a staff pay disclosure system that would have been Canada’s cloudiest list between the Pacific Ocean and the Ontario/Quebec border.

Calgary city bureaucrats should be subjected to a much dimmer “Sunshine List” than their peers in the Alberta government or many other Canadian cities, city officials are recommending to council. Unlike most systems that disclose the names and compensations of all high-earning employees — $100,000 or more, for the Alberta list — Calgary’s proposed system would name all staff and all positions.

Alberta may no longer be the sunshine capital of Canada, figuratively speaking. For the last four years, residents of the petroleum-rich province were most likely to say their standard of living would improve in a year.

EDMONTON — Taxpayers forked out $560,000 to failed PC leadership candidate Gary Mar to serve as Alberta’s representative in Asia last year, according to newly-released documents. Mar earned $275,159 in base salary and another $50,868 in cash benefits, as well as $234,252 in non-cash benefits last year, according to financial disclosure documents in the International and Intergovernmental Relations annual report released last week.

Calgary’s biggest civic union plans to hold a strike vote next month, increasing the likelihood its workers may get a larger raise than the city’s budget can handle. The 4,000-member indoor worker’s union, CUPE 38, has gone through mediation after months of unsuccessful bargaining over the next labour contract. The union has previously approved a strike vote without walking off the job, which means the June 12 strike vote date may not spell work stoppage but it may hasten a deal that councillors didn’t want.

CALGARY — Canadian oil and gas worker salaries jumped six per cent to an average of $130,000 US in 2013 and the trend is expected to continue, according to a survey released Wednesday. Furthermore, despite ongoing worries about oil transportation bottlenecks, nearly three-quarters of employers who took part in the survey by global recruiting firm Hays Oil & Gas say they expect their companies will hire more people in 2014.

Calgary’s civic union leaders, emboldened by wage hikes being offered to Enmax workers, will demand from city managers the same deal, which could make it harder for council to keep future property tax hikes below five per cent a year. On Tuesday, the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Enmax staff division will vote on a three-year contract with 3.5-per-cent raises each year.

With nine staffers of former premier Alison Redford receiving a $1.3-million “golden handshake” from taxpayers, opposition parties are demanding major changes in severance for political staff while observers say the issue will haunt the Tory leadership race. According to a list released Friday by the Progressive Conserative government, the province paid out $1,135,647 in severance and a payment in lieu of benefits, with more than half going to two individuals.

Alberta Health Services has a new CEO — again. The provincial health authority looked east for its latest leader, announcing Friday that health executive and nurse Vickie Kaminski will take the AHS reins, overseeing an organization at least ten times as large as the one she’s leaving behind.

EDMONTON — Four Alberta deputy ministers took home more than $1.7 million in severance between them in 2012 — part of a $6.2-million executive payout one opposition critic blasted Thursday as “highway robbery.” The civil service severance payoff doesn’t even include the $476,942 in termination pay owed to a fifth deputy minister, who is recorded on the Redford government’s new sunshine list as having taken only $40,000 last year.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.